[mythtv-users] How to ensure STB is on

[Christian Szpilfogel]

On 04/05/2010 9:54 AM, George Galt wrote:
>> George (and Christian), I just tried sa3250 again, to no avail.  The status
>> command returns the same codes whether the STB is on or off.  Specifically,
>> sa3250cmd -v -n 0 status returns:
>>    Sending Command: 0x01FFB27F
>>    Success, Response: 0x0CFFB270
>> return code: 2
>> George, what does it say for you in the on and off states?
>> I just tried majoridiot's program, and it will change channels fine when the
>> STB is on, but does nothing when it's off, using either:
>> mythchanger -f 6 -P -c 100
>> and
>> mythchanger -f 7 -P -c 100
>>
>>      
> Jerry:
>
> Interesting, I never really worried about using it to try to turn
> things off, but here are the responses when I tried to use it to turn
> the STB off:
>
> sa3250cmd -v -n1 status
>    Sending Command: 0x01FFB27F
>    Success, Response: 0x0CFFB270
> return code: 2
>
> sa3250cmd -v -n1 off
>    Sending Command: 0x00FFB260
>    Success, Response: 0x09FFB260
>    Sending Command: 0x01FFB27F
>    Success, Response: 0x0CFFB270
> return code: 2
>
> sa3250cmd -v -n1 status
>    Sending Command: 0x01FFB27F
>    Success, Response: 0x0CFFB270
> return code: 2
>
> And here is the sequence for using the "on" command:
>
> sa3250cmd -v -n1 on
>    Sending Command: 0x00FFB270
>    Success, Response: 0x09FFB270
>    Sending Command: 0x01FFB27F
>    Success, Response: 0x0CFFB270
> return code: 2
>
> sa3250cmd -v -n1 status
>    Sending Command: 0x01FFB27F
>    Success, Response: 0x0CFFB270
> return code: 2
>
> I wasn't able to physically turn the device off and test (my wife was
> using the system and didn't want me "playing" with it), but it looks
> like sa3250cmd always leaves the STB in the "on" condition, regardless
> of whether you use "on" or "off".  I'll see if I can't get a few
> minutes tonight to turn the STB off and see what sa3250cmd does.
>    
Interesting. It is probably more accurate to say what ever you tell the 
STB to do, it responds with "on". It is interesting to me that it is 
responding at all. If it wasn't you would get an error like : "Command 
Failed, No Response".

If it is properly responding to the "on" command then that is fine just 
not ideal in terms of minimizing delay. If it is toggling then that 
would be a little weird but hey! most of these STB's have quirks.

The spec is at: 
http://s2i.das.ufsc.br/docs/s2igrab/s2igrab/apostilas/Doc1998001.pdf
Check out section 9.1 (p.38) for the actual rules (specified in 1998).

I use the power control on the whole unit not just the sub-panel so the 
rule is that all sub-units should power on/off.

If you feel comfortable diddling with the code, the 2nd byte defines the 
subunit type and ID as defined in 5.3.3 (p.9). section 5.1 shows you the 
word structure. Only the first row is used for power. Note for the 
entire unit, I use hex 1F & 7 hence FF. You could try 5 (Tuner) and 7 
(or an instance number like 0). 5&7 is "2F" and 5&0 is "28". sub unit 
type 1E might also be relevant so using that a byte of "F0" would be 
1E&0. I'm sure you get it anyway...

> In any event, all I know is that since I've started using sa3250cmd
> (about 6 weeks), I haven't missed a single recording because the STB
> was off.  Before that, it was usually 3 or 4 per month.
>    
I assume you are just using the "on" command then.
> NOTE TO CHRISTIAN: If the above results weren't what you were
> expecting, I'd be happy to work with you on getting your program to
> work with the Motorola QIP6200.
>
>
>    
I'm completely jammed for a while but if you want to make code 
suggestions that have worked for you, I will merge them in (with credit 
of course).

I've discovered most of these unit commands and the panel commands by 
poking at the STB with properly structured commands but at some point I 
will have to get a proper ieee1394 dev package (suggestions welcome) so 
I can more efficiently interact with the device and ask it important 
things like "What do you support" :). Ideally, I would like to improve 
on this code by adding in the suite of "panel" commands which would be 
very useful.